Previous Part:
Dyan's Gift | Shook Chapter 27
Dyan was sitting in the family van, adjusting her headband. For once, She was excited to get back to school. She had to get to Kayla to tell her about everything that had happened during winter break. The truck crash, her new family, the News Years party, the new-
“Dyan, quit playing with your hair, you’re going to make it fuzz up,” Mrs. Blue said, looking at Dyan from the rearview mirror.
“Ok!” Dyan put her hands on her laps while she tried to bounce all her excess energy away.
They pulled into a middle school parking lot, and Royal, Navy and Maya stood up. Maya gripped her book bag straps tightly and pressed her lips together.
“Don’t worry Maya. Just be yourself, do your thing, and people will want to be your friend.” said Dyan.
“Right,” was Maya’s answer.
“Exactly. You're the illustrator for a book that happened to become a bestseller, so who wouldn’t wanna be your friend?” Dyan shrugged with a wrinkled face.
This made Maya smile. “You’re right. See ya’ after school Dyan.”
Navy opened the car door and out he and his sisters went. Dyan could only imagine what it would be like when she joined Maya in middle school next year.
In Maya’s class everyone was talking and reuniting with their friends after a long winter break.
Maya was about to sit in the back when she read the board. Dear students, for the new year, I’m trying a new seating arrangement chosen by you all! Sit wherever you want!
This would have been great, if only Maya had anyone to sit with. She thought about what Dyan said about being herself and not worrying about friends so much.
She sat at a random desk in the back and pulled out her brand new sketchbook and colored pencils she had gotten from the boy twins as a present and finished coloring in her drawing of Bear. What fun it was to color those shiny yellow eyes. And for the background, what time of day should she make it, sunset? Night time!?
Somebody gasped. “Wow. Did you draw that!?”
Maya looked up to see a girl standing by her desk, looking at her drawing.
“Yeah,” Maya answered.
A taller girl came beside her desk as well, and her eyes widened too. “You’re really good!”
And then another girl came to her desk. Maya went back to working on her drawing, a smile growing on her face.
“Can you draw me!? Please!??” the tall girl asked, taking a seat at the desk beside her.
“Sure!” was Maya’s answer, and soon the girls were busy talking about drawing, school, crushes and everything in between. The best part was yet to come of the girls asked where Maya had gotten that bad scar on her arm. Maya started to tell the story of her ‘trip’ to Maine!
Mrs. Blue drove down to Dyan’s elementary school and handed her her brand new purple and pink lunchbox, which matched her brand new bookbag that Dyan had gotten from her for New Years.
“Have a good day, Dyan.” Mrs. Blue smiled at Dyan from the driver's seat. Dyan nodded and ran out the car to the long brick building of her elementary school.
As she ran through the halls everyone had their eyes on Dyan. Heads and eyes followed her for at least a moment as she ran down the tiled halls towards the fifth-grader hallway.
Kayla was holding the strap to her shoulder bag as she headed to class when she turned and her eyes widened. She ran the rest of the way to Dyan as she shouted her name.
Kayla shouted Dyan’s name back. “It’s been so long, girl! I heard you got adopted! Nice shirt!”
Dyan was wearing her ‘Go Far!’ Shirt.
“Thanks, it’s my favorite shirt. It also happens to match this!” Dyan stretched a spring of her hair to show the blue streak that was within it.
Angie’s eyes widened. “You dyed your hair!?”
“Yep! My new favorite color is cyan blue, and my Dad-Mr. Blue- let me get a part of my hair dyed!” Dyan shook her hands excitedly as they walked down the hall in sync.
“You’re writing another book?” Kayla said, her eyebrow raising slightly.
“Yes, and I’ll fill you in on everything in a moment, but I hafta tell you this: I’m trying out for the school basketball team.” Dyan’s smile was big and held high.
“You told me you’re not doing sports. Ever, remember!?” Kayla replied, walking closer to Dyan to avoid some kid running down the hall.
“Yeah, but I’ve decided I’ve gotta try new things. Spirit and the Aliens only got interesting when I did something I never thought I would, so for my next book I’m gonna do something different again!”
Kayla smiled. “I can only imagine how this will turn out.”
Dyan pulled her Blue strand in her face and watched it coil back. “The fun part is, I can’t.”
The End
Thank you for reading my very first novel!
Haven't read Shook? You can find the chapter archive in this post.
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
Follow me on Twitter!
I also write on Tumblr!
(Image made with ai)